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History of Masonry in Hawaii |
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MASONIC
DIRECTORY TERRITORY
OF HAWAII 1908 By: Herbert G. Gardiner, PGS, Grand Historian
In 1908
The Masonic
Directory of
the Territory of Hawaii listed
five Masonic
Lodges in the Islands.
They were Hawaiian Lodge No.21, F.& A.M., Pacific Lodge No.822, A.F.
& A.M., Oceanic Lodge No.
371, F
& A.M., Kilauea Lodge No. 330, F.& A.M., and Maui Lodge
No.984, A.F. & A.M.
In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt who was a Freemason was President of the United States. The U.S. Congress authorized the construction of Naval Station Honolulu at Pearl Harbor. In 1908 Mainly to impress Imperial Japan that the U.S. Navy could shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific President Roosevelt ordered the "Great White Fleet" to sail around the world. The fleet consisted of sixteen new battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The battleships were painted white except for the gilded scrollwork on their bows. The journey took fourteen months. The squadrons were manned by 14,000 sailors, the voyage covered 43,000 miles and called at twenty ports on six continents. Since the Panama Canal was still under construction the fleet sailed through the Straits of Magellan near the southern tip of South America. The armada arrived in Honolulu on July 16th and remained for six days. After many celebrations and luaus the fleet headed for New Zealand. From there the armada continued on around the world returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia on February 22, 1909. There President Roosevelt reviewed the Fleet as it returned home after completing a highly successful voyage around the world, a feat not previously accomplished by any of the world's leading naval powers. In 1908 the City & County of Honolulu was created with Joseph James Fern as its first Mayor. Walter F. Frear was appointed Governor of Hawaii by President Roosevelt. Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniianole was the Territorial Delegate to Congress, and the Hawaiian Pineapple Growers Association was founded and launched a successful campaign to popularize the consumption of Pineapple.
In 1908 the three Masonic
Lodges on Oahu were: Hawaiian Lodge No.
21 F&AM
which had
been chartered
by the Grand Lodge of California
on May
5, 1852; Lodge le
Progres de l'Oceanie No. 124
had been
constituted under
he auspices of the
Ancient & Accepted Scottish
Rite of the Supreme Council of France on April 8,
1843. However
in 1905 the Lodge
transferred its allegiance to the
Grand Lodge
of California
and was designated Oceanic Lodge
No. 371
F &
AM. In
1916 the Lodge requested and was
authorized to
revert to
its original name and
was designated Lodge le
Progres de
l'Oceanie No. 371.
Pacific Lodge No. 822 A.F. &
A.M. was organized by
dispensation on January 4,
1895, through the
District Grand
Lodge of
Queensland, Australia
(Scottish Constitution)
and was
Chartered by the Grand
Lodge of Scotland on August 1, 1895.
The
first Lodge
constituted on
the Island
of Maui
was Chartered by
the Grand
Lodge of California as
Maui Lodge No. 223 F&AM
in 1872.
The Lodge prospered for
a few years but in 1877 surrendered
its Charter
due to a lack of
participation. In 1904
the Brethren
on the Island of Maui
once again sought to establish
a Lodge
on the
Island. An inquiry to the Grand Lodge
of California
failed to elicit any
encouragement so the Maui Brethren
contacted Henry
Ernest Cooper
Past Master of Hawaiian
Lodge and
founder of Pacific
Lodge No. 822 under the Grand Lodge
of Scotland,
for recommendations. It appears that Worshipful
Brother Cooper
was the representative
of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in Hawaii at
the time. As a result the Grand Lodge
of Scotland
on February
2, 1905
Chartered Lodge Maui No. 984 in Wailuku.
The
first Lodge
to be
constituted on the Island of Hawaii was
Kilauea Lodge
No. 330, F. & A.M. located
in Hilo in 1897. It was
Chartered by the Grand Lodge of California. SOME
PROMINENT BRETHREN OF HAWAII IN
THE 1908 ERA
Archibald
Scott Cleghorn 1835-1910. Cleghorn was the husband of
Princess Miriam Kapili younger sister of King David Kalakaua.
Cleghorn was
the father
of Princess
Victoria Kaiulani.
He succeeded his
brother-in-law John
Dominis (husband
of Queen Lili'uokalani) as
Governor of
Hawaii. Cleghorn was
the first president of
Queen's Hospital,
and was
a member of he privy council under
Kalakaua, the
Board of Health, and the Board of Immigration. He was Honolulu's
first park commissioner and became known
as the father of
Hawaii's Park System. He designed Thomas Square,
Kawaiahao Church
grounds, Royal
Mausoleum grounds and Kapiolani
Park. Cleghorn's
mansion on
Queen Emma
street eventually became
the original
Pacific Club
of which he was president for
forty-six years.
Cleghorn became a Master Mason in
Hawaiian Lodge No., F & AM in December 1873. He was an active
member of
the Lodge
and served as a
Trustee from 1882-1895. Archibald
Scott Cleghorn
was a
highly valued advisor
to the Hawaiian Monarchy for a good many years.
Curtis
Piehu Iaukea,
1855-1940. Curtis
Iaukea served the Hawaiian Monarchy
during the reign of King Kalakaua as a highly competent
One-man Diplomatic Corps. He was sheriff of the County of
Oahu from
1906-1908. In
1909 he
served a
term in the Territorial
Senate. He was
appointed secretary of the Territory in
1917 and often served as acting governor until his retirement in
1921. He
became a
member of
the Achieves Commission and custodian
of the
throne room
of Iolani
Palace. Iaukea had faithfully served
the Hawaiian Monarchy, the Republic of Hawaii and
the Territory
of Hawaii. He was the
most decorated man in Hawaii. Curtis
Piehu Iaukea
was a member of Pacific Lodge No. 822, A.F & A.M.
Henry
Ernest Cooper, 1857-1929. Henry
Cooper became a Master Mason in
a Lodge
in San Diego, California in 1870. He was the Worshipful
Master of
Hawaiian Lodge
No. 21
in 1894. Cooper organized
Pacific Lodge
No. 822, A.F. &
A.M. under the Grand Lodge of
Scotland through
the then
District Grand Lodge of
Queensland, Australia.
He served
as its first Master in
1895 and again
in 1896.
Cooper also served as Deputy of the Orient of Hawaii for the
Scottish Rite Bodies from 1896-1915.
Henry
Cooper was
a member
of the Committee of Safety and was
a very
close associate
of Lorrin
Thurston the leading
advocate to
depose Queen
Lili'uokalani. Along
with Thurson, Cooper was
actively involved
in establishing the
Provisional Government, the
Republic of Hawaii and ultimately the annexation of
Hawaii by the United States. He served as Minister of Foreign
Affairs in
1895. Cooper
served in
various key positions and served
as Acting
president of
the Hawaii Republic for
three months during the absence of President Sanford Dole.
Unfortunately
in the
current highly
charged atmosphere
created by
some elements
of the
Hawaii population
that castigates anyone
who supported
deposing Queen
Liliu'okalani (Mrs. John
Dominis), Henry Ernest
Cooper has virtually become a
"Non-person" or,
along with
Lorrin Thurston is
portrayed as one
of the
arch villains
in Hawaiian History. To
pursue the interesting
and productive
career of Henry Ernest
Cooper would involve
us in the realm of politics...so, for the purpose of
this paper
we'll close
this particular segment
here with the knowledge that
Henry Ernest Cooper was a dedicated Freemason and a very capable public
servant.
Benjamin
Franklin Dillingham,
1884-1918. Dillingham
was a member
of Oceanic
Lodge No. 371, F&
AM. Ben Dillingham was the founder
of the Dillingham clan
of Hawaii. He was the first officer of
the bark
"Whistler" which
stopped in Honolulu in 1864. While riding along the shore
he was thrown from the horse which
resulted in a long stay
in the hospital. While recovering he was
befriended by
the Reverend Lowell Smith whose daughter Emma
Louise married
Dillingham in 1869. Dillingham gave up the life
of a
sailor and
began a business career as a clerk in a hardware
store. He subsequently
bought the business and changed the name to Dillingham & Company. In
1889 he directed his efforts to linking
Honolulu with
the North Shore of Oahu
by means of a railroad.
Along with
his associates
he later
obtained a franchise for
the Oahu
Steam Railway.
"Dillingham's Folly as some folks
referred to it, laid
170 miles of track and became
the greatest
single factor
in the agricultural development of Oahu. By 1890 railroad
operations were established on the Islands of
Maui and
Hawaii. Dillingham
help to develop several Sugar Plantations
by building
extensive railroad
facilities on Oahu and the
neighbor islands. He
later built on Hawaii what became known
as the
Hawaii Consolidated
Railway. His son Walter
F. Dillingham took
over the
operation of the
various Dillingham business activities
around the
time of
the annexation. Ben
Dillingham retired
and enjoined the
realization of his dreams, but remained
the President
of Oahu Rail & Land
Company until his death.
Lester
Petrie, 1878-1956.
Petrie was
a member of Hawaiian Lodge No.
21, F
& AM.
He was a member of the Honolulu Board of
Supervisors from
1913 to
1930. Petrie was
a territorial senator for
four years
and was
Mayor of Honolulu during the years
of WW
II. He was Mayor from
1941 to 1947. Lester Petrie P,4 was
one of
the Freemasons
who helped
to establish the
Shriner Hospital for
Crippled Children in
Honolulu. Petrie was the Potentate
in 1917 and The Master of Hawaiian Lodge in 1920 Gerrit
Parmale Wilder,
1863-193
Wilder. was
a member
of Hawaiian Lodge
No. 21,
F &
AM. Wilder was born in Honolulu. He
attended Punahou
School and worked for the Kahului Railroad Company.
In 1896
he became
its president.
He retired from
business two
years later
and devoted
his entire efforts to
horticulture. In
1924 he
earned a
master's degree
at the University of
Hawaii and
subsequently became an
associate in botany at
the Berniice
P. Bishop
Museum. He
made several
expeditions to
the South
Pacific, Ceylon, the West Indies and other areas. Wilder introduced
many plants and trees into Hawaii. He
also hybridized
and created many new varieties of Hibiscus. In 1907 he published
"Fruits of the Hawaiian Islands."
Charles
William Dickey,
1871-1942. Dickey was a
member of Hawaiian Lodge
No. 21,
F &
AM. Dickey was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He designed many buildings in
Hawaii. Among
the more
notable were Kamehameha School for Boys,
Montague Hall
at Punahou
School, the
Castle & Cooke
Building, Waikiki,
Varsity, Toyo, and Hilo Theaters; Halekulani Hotel,
Kona inn, Naniloa Hotel in Hilo; Wilcox Memorial Hospital at
Lihue and the Kula Sanatorium on
Maui. Dickey was associated with
the design
of Honolulu's
City Hall.
He served on the
Honolulu City Planning
Commission from 1931 to 1938.
Wallace
Rider Farrington, 1871-1933, Farrington was a member of
Oceanic Lodge
No. 371, F & AM.
Farrington came to Hawaii as managing
editor of
the Pacific
Commercial Advertiser. He later
became editor
of the
evening Bulletin which was merged with
the Hawaiian
Star in
1913, and
Farrington became vice president
and general
manager of the
resulting Star-Bulletin. Farrington
resigned these
positions when
he was
appointed governor of
the Territory
of Hawaii
by President Warren G.
Harding (also
a Freemason)
in 1921.
He was
reappointed by President Calvin
Coolidge in
1925. Farrington
supported the continuation of
land grants
to Hawaiians and the
work of the Hawaii Homes
Commission. Farrington
was a lifelong
proponent of statehood for the territory.
John
Harris Soper, 1846-1944. Soper was a member of Hawaiian Lodge
No. 21,
F & AM. Soper was
born in Plymouth, England and
came to
Hawaii via
California in 1877. He
became involved in raising sugar
cane and
became manager of the
Pioneer Mill at Lahaina, Maui.
He was
first appointed marshal
of the kingdom in 1884
succeeding William
C. Parke also a member of Hawaiian Lodge.
After two
years he
resigned to reenter
business, but King Kalakaua again called him to the post in 1888.
Soper headed
the force that suppressed the Robert W. Wilcox rebellion
in 1889
and resigned
again. Soper was
recalled by the Provisional
Government to
lead their
forces, and it was under his
command that
the Hawaiian
Monarchy was overthrown in
a bloodless
takeover. He
also suppressed
the counter revolution
of 1895 led by Robert Wilcox and Sam Nowlein a member of
Oceanic Lodge
No. 371.
He continued in this
office until 1907, when
he was retired by the
War Department in Washington, D.C. with
he rank
of Brigadier
General. Soper was Master of Hawaiian Lodge in 1895.
*
* * * *
A VERY SPECIAL INDIVIDUAL Henry Berger 1844-1929
Henry
Berger who
arrived in
Honolulu during the
reign of Kamahameha V
to serve as Band Master
was still active in 1908. Berger was
not a Freemason. He had helped Lili'uokalani compose "Aloha
Oe" and
wrote Hawaii's national
anthem "Hawaii Ponoi." Berger
led the
Royal Hawaiian
Band for fory-three
years and made it
world famous.
Henry Berger served
under the Hawaiian Monarchy, the
Republic of
Hawaii and the Territory of Hawaii. He retired in 1916 at age 72.
*
* * * * References Masonic
Directory, Territory of Hawaii 1908. Honolulu Mercantile Printing
Co., LTD. 1908 History
Makers of
Hawaii, By
A. Grove Day, Mutual Publishing of Honolulu. March 1984. Assorted
Papers by the author covering a period of
15 years (END) |